The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to grant urgent hearing on former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik's bail plea in a money laundering case linked to a land deal in which fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides were involved.
The 62-year-old politician had approached the high court after a special court here rejected his bail plea on November 30. The single bench of Justice M S Karnik denied Malik's request for an urgent hearing on his plea and directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its response to the plea in two weeks.
The judge adjourned the matter to January 6. As the matter was called out on Tuesday, Justice Karnik asked Malik's counsel Amit Desai to first satisfy the urgency for hearing the matter. Desai then informed the court about the senior NCP leader's medical conditions.
Malik had only one functioning kidney and required an urgent transplant, he said and submitted that the former minister's family wanted to start the procedure for a transplant, which may require tests and meetings with specialists. The judge then asked Desai to submit before the court what treatment is required, and said a reply will then be sought from the ED and orders will be passed accordingly.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, appearing for the probe agency, said, "for medical treatment or opinion we will never oppose". He further said that it had become a trend to file for bail on merits and then seek urgent hearing citing medical grounds. The ED arrested Malik in February this year. He is in judicial custody and currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital here.
Prima facie, there was evidence to indicate a “conspiracy” between Hasina Parkar (Ibrahim’s sister), Salim Patel (alleged associate of Ibrahim) and Malik to grab the land owned by Munira Plumber and her mother Mariyum Goawala, special judge R N Rokade, had said while denying bail to Malik. The special court had also noted the former Maharashtra minister “is in continuous possession of tainted property” through a firm, owned by his family.
The ED’s case against Malik is based on an FIR filed recently by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against Dawood Ibrahim, a designated global terrorist and key 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts accused, and his aides under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
